I just bought a 1.5 year old female beardie a few days ago. Her name is Miss Popolopogus. The little fellow seems perfectly healthy (eats well, is active, no watery eyes, nose, and has a nice store of fat around the base of the tail. Her stool is a little runny, though. What has me a tad tense is that she tends to open her mouth from time to time. The degree of her mouth opening ranges from just a crack to almost wide open.
Her habitat ranges from 85 - 100 degrees depending on where she is so I'd think if she were trying to cool off she'd just move to another place in the habitat. The 100 degree portion is up on a stick about 8 inches directly under the heating lamp. The 85 degree portion is at the opposite side of the tank.
She does not fluff her beard out when she does this. Nor is anyone near her most of the time when she opens her mouth so I would not think it to be a threatening gesture, either. The glass walls of her habitat, however, do reflect quite well. Maybe she is seeing her reflection as another beardie and making a threat display at it?
I am concerned it is a respiratory infection so I spoke with the owner of the pet shop in which I purchased the lizard. He assured me it wasn’t as the animal was given a clean bill of health by his vet a few days prior to my purchase but, well, he might tend to be a little biased.
Might someone be kind enough to provide me with some other symptoms of a respiratory infection (other than the open mouth) in a beardie and comment on whether this mouth opening behavior is normal and explainable for reasons other that heat, threats or illness? Any input would be helpful. Miss Popolopogus and I thank you in advance.
